Like Father Like Son
by yeh abt that
Summary: Parker is 18 and wants to join the Army what will Booth do to change his mind?
1. No Way

A young man was sitting on the bus by himself listening to his Ipod, so consumed with his own thoughts he didn't notice two girls giggling and talking about him. God this guy had it all. His hair fell in gold curls in front of his deep chocolate eyes. He had amazing eyes. He had amazing everything actually. His defined jaw line made most girls go weak, and he had a nice body, with AMAZING arms.

Parker Booth noticed two girls staring at him and flashed his patent Booth Charm Smile.

One of the girls jaw dropped. She leaned in to whisper something to her friend, as Parker was again lost in his thoughts.

Parker gets off the bus and walks into the Hoover Building and pulls out his visitor ID and signs in to see his father.

Booth is sitting at his desk on the phone; he is not paying attention to what is going on outside his office. He like his son didn't notice the two women talking about him. Even for an older man he still looks great. His hair is slightly peppered gray; he has a few wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead. Mostly laugh wrinkles. God his wife was a lucky woman…

Parker is now 18. He has been thinking about joining the Army for sometimes and when he tells his mom she flips out and says no way. Parker thinks that if he gets his dad on his side it will make it easier, and that his dad will be on his side.

He walks into his dad's office to see him sitting at his desk on the phone. Booth looks up seeing his son smiles, and waves him in. "Hey Bones let me call you back…. Yeah….. I don't know when, Parker just came in…. Okay bye." He hangs up the phone a smile on his face, "Hey bud, what's up?"

"Hey dad, nothing really. Have you talked to mom lately?"

"No. Not for a while why?" Knowing his son, something is up, after all he is HIS son.

"Well I have been thinking foe a while that I want to join the Army." He can already here his dad yelling 'Yeah! Following in my footsteps!'

"No."

"WHAT? You were in the Army. Why would you say 'no'?"

"Simple, I don't want you to live through what I have." He left out the 'still am' part. Seeing the confused look on his sons' face he goes on. "You don't know what I have been through out there, not many have, actually only one who does, that wasn't out there with me."

"You never told me…."

"You never asked," he says cutting his son off.

"Well… I'm asking now." Booth looks at his watch. 4:50.

"Let me go talk to Cullen, see if I can cut out an hour early." He leaves his son in his office; shaking his head he walks to find Cullen.

"Sir, can I talk to you for a second," Booth asks as he sticks his head into Cullens' office.

"Sure Booth, what's up?"

"Well Parker came to seem me, he wants to join the Army, Rebecca and I don't want him to. I need to tell him what I have been through."

"Okay? Where do I fit into all of this?"

"Would it be okay if I left at 5 instead of 6?"

"Yeah get out of here." Booth gets up to go but Cullen stops him, "can I ask you why you don't what him to?"

"Scars." He says simply.

"You can cover those if you feel that you need to."

"Not all of them," Booth says tapping his temple and walking out of the office.


	2. Basic

BASIC

Booth on the phone "Bones I need to take the rest of the day off…. Yeah…. No…. Father stuff… Yeah… I'll call you tomorrow, oh and Bones… Go home and get some sleep you have been working all day." Turning his phone off, 'Once I get started I won't want to stop and then start back up again' he thinks walking into his office. "Come on Parker let's go."

In the car so many things a going through Booths mind, all the highs and lows, the good and the bad. All of the images flash before his eyes. He shakes his head slightly to clear his mind. Where to begin…

They sit in silence for a dew minutes, Parker taking in the park as they sit on a secluded bench. Booth however almost has no idea where they are. Too many things that he has been trying to forget he now has to remember. He has to remember them and tell them to his son. All of these things came flooding back when Parker said that he wanted to join the Army.

"First off I am not proud of what I have done by any means." Booth finally said. Parker is immediately attentive; his father has been in a painful silence for so long, he doesn't want him to stop because he is not paying attention.

'God Parker is going to hate me for the things I have done' Booth says to himself.

"They don't teach you what you really need to know about war in basic. Yeah they teach you how to shoot and how to fight, but they don't teach you how to deal with what you have seen and done. When they do talk about it, it is nothing like what they say. They don't tell you what it's like to kill someone or what it's like to find you buddy from back home dead, or what it's like in most POW camps. Maybe they really don't know themselves, but it is nothing like what they talk about." He pauses looking at his son for the first time since he has started, seeing extreme interest on his face.

"They don't tell you about the nightmares."


	3. Nathan Bell

NATHAN BELL

" I had known Nathan Bell what had seemed like my entire life, we weren't best friends or anything but we still hung out in high school. When we found out that we were both joining up we became closer. We went through basic together and were assigned to the same unit. Our unit was ambushed… it was crazy. There had been constant gun fire for about 12 hours, the air was thick with smoke, I can still smell the gun powder." Booth pauses and takes a deep breath as if smelling the air.

"Me and Nate lost track of each other in the chaos. When I found him he was laying on his stomach, I knew right away that was bad. I rolled him over and all I saw was blood. He had been shot in the gut. He looked up at me, smiled kindda, the he was gone. The only thing I could even think to do was grab his letters," Booth pauses looking at Parkers' face he can tell he has no clue. "You see… some soldiers would write there own good-bye letters. I grabbed his and his dog tags then ran back to our strong hold. I will always remember the way I could smell his burnt flesh from the bullet." His eyes are closed and he has a sour look on his face, as if he were smelling garbage.

"The next thing I remember it was about a week later." Booth pushes his palms into his eyes until he see spots. " I held my buddy when he died. I saw the last breath he got to breathe, the last look on his face."

Booth mumbles something and Parker debates for a few minutes be fore he decides to ask. "A few minutes ago you… you uh, mumbled something. What was it?"

"'The angels were crying

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin' down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standing that day

Saw the eagle fly

Through a clear blue sky' It'd from the Big & Rich song 8th of November. Not the exact one that I was in but hey it sounds just like it."

Parker pauses for a second, "Is that why you always change that song if it comes on? Too much of a reminder?" Booth just nods.

"Dad, why do you think he smiled right before he died?"

"I wondered that for a long time. It might be because he saw me, you know maybe he thought he was going to be okay, that I was a comfort to him or maybe it was something completely different. I wish I knew." Booth looks at his watch. "You wanna get some dinner?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."


	4. Dinner and a Talk

THE DINER

Booth and Parker walk into the diner and find a booth in the back. They both order cheeseburgers and fires.

"So how are the last few weeks of your senior year going?' Booth asks.

Slightly taken aback at the change from what they were talking about before. "Yeah it's good. I can't wait to get out of the petty crap that goes on everyday."

Booth smiles "Son that will never go away, you will deal with it for the rest of your life."

"Yeah but once prom is over it should get a lot better at school. Girls are crazy; I can't go anywhere by myself. I'll get attacked by a heard of them."

Booth laughs at this. "Yeah well that's what you get for being born a Booth. So who are you going with?"

"I don't really want to go… I mean I do, but I can't go with who I want to, ya know?"

"No not really. You can go with whoever you want. Who's stopping you?"

Parker thinks for a second before he deiced that he should have asked his dad for help a LONG time ago. "Well the girl that I want to go with isn't exactly… well she's not the same type of girl that I normally go out with."

"Meaning?" Booth asked, very confused about why his son is being so hesitant to ask someone out, it has never been a problem before.

"She is my chem lab partner." Parker looks at his father expecting him to make it all better, when he says nothing Parker continues. "She is really smart and I like hanging out with her, but she probably has no interest in me what so ever. I mean we have a lot in common, I think but there is the whole I'm a jock thing, and well most of my friends would… I don't know… look down on it?"

With a sudden realization Booth smiles at his son, knowing EXACTLY what he is going through. "Okay," Just then Bones and Angela walk up next to the booth.

"So you left work early to give your son dating advice?" Bones looks at Parker and smiles, "Hey Parker, are you staying with us this weekend? I thought your mom had you?" She sits next to Booth while Angela slides in next to Parker.

"Yeah Booth, I mean how could a kid this cute," Angela stops and points at Parker and he flashes a smile. "Have problems getting a date?"

"Ange has a point Parker. Do you know how long it took your father to ask me out?"

Parker laughs, "Yeah it was what five years dad?"

Booth laughs, "Hey if you want what info I can give you, don't make fun of me!"

"Yeah, yeah, hey Ange can you let me up I have to go to the bathroom." Angela gets up and lets him out them sits down and slides to the inside and starts too much on Parkers fries.

"So, is dating advice the real reason that you left early?" Bones asks.

Booth looks at her and his eye are dark, "No, I wish it was." He pauses and takes a drink of his water. "Parker wants to join the army." Bones has sudden realization of what her husband is reliving.

"Oh Seeley, are you okay?" She asks very concerned.

"Yeah well there is a lot that he doesn't know about me, and to be honest I am afraid to tell him some things. I mean he is going to hate me." He drops his head into his hands.

Bones started to say something but Angela got there first. "Never. Booth your son loves you and he know who you are, these stories will only bring you closer, there is no way he could think any less of you. He will understand once you do tell him why you never have before, and he can tell that it is hurting you to tell him, but I think he really wants to know. You are a great father and nothing will change how Parker sees you. Nothing." She pats his arm and then gets up.

"Seeley?" Bones asks all she gets is a little grunt "Ange is right. Parker loves you and you telling him all of this won't change that. I know him and I know you. You also thought that once you told me I would hate you to, but once you told me I had more respect for you, the same will happen with Parker, I know it. I love you and I will see you at home later, okay? Do you want me to wait up for you?"

"I don't know how late I'll be, but…. Would you mind waiting?" He asks lifting his head out of his hangs.

"Not at all. See you at home." Bones says getting up out of the booth.

"Thanks. Oh and Temperance, I love you." He gives her a small smile and she returns it then walks out to the car with Angela.

Booth sits in silence for a while and takes in what the two women told him, he had no clue how much Angela knew but what she said makes since. And Temperance has a really good point, she knows it all and she is still here. Parker returns and looks at his plate, "Ange at my fires didn't she? Where did they go anyway?"

Booth laughs, "Yeah she ate your fries and they had some work to do at the lab, they were picking up food for all the squints." They were right, this will be hard, but it will bring them closer in the end.

"Oh okay. So now what can I do to make things easier with Aderyn?" He looks hopeful as he stares into his fathers' eyes.

"Well look at me and Tempe. You would have never guessed that things would have turned out this way, but they did, and it was one of the best things that happened to me. Not many of my friends were supportive of me at first, but then they saw how happy I was when I was with her, they started to see what she meant to me. And if you really like her, well what they think won't matter anyway."

"Yeah but,"

"No buts' Parker. You're a science geek too, and yes, I blame Tempe for that, but hey, your one of the popular kids, what makes you that much different than her?"

"Good point dad… but there is something more than that," Parker stops trying to decide if he should tell his dad this. " well, you see, she is a foster kid, and they won't let her buy a dress or anything, and I don't want to ask her because I don't want to upset her by asking her when she can't go."

"That is easily solved." Booth pulls out his phone. "Tempe…," he tells her all about the problem and then once he is finished he smiles and nods, "yes, you are a life saver!"

"Okay ask her. When you ask her tell her that there are two women, Tempe and Angela, who want to take her dress shopping. Tell her that Tempe was a foster child to and that she wasn't able to go to prom either for the same reason."

Parker smiles, "I don't know if she will accept that, I mean she is really… I don't know the word for it. She doesn't like to be a charity case."

"What's the harm in asking? And if she says no we'll just send Tempe to go get her and take her shopping anyway. With Angela there along with her, there will be no saying no to the both of them."


	5. A Snipers First

As Parker and Booth finished dinner the conversation is slow. Booth pays the bill and they leave. As they walk to the car the sun is just starting to set.

"Does your mom know where you are?" Booth asks.

"Umm… yeah, well she knows that I am with you. I think."

"I'm gunna call her real quick." Booth pulls out his phone and punches some numbers.

"Rebecca, hey, umm, me and Parker need to talk about a few things, so I'll bring him home when we're done… no…yes Rebecca… no, I don't… no… I won't… I will… I don't know what time… yeah I'll talk to you later." Booth turns off his phone again as he gets into the car.

"So where are we going?" Parker asks.

"You'll see," Booth says as he slowly pulls out of the parking lot. They drive for about 45 minutes until they are outside of the city. Booth pulls onto a road that Parker wouldn't have noticed had they not turned onto it. When Booth stops the car he sits for a minute, a soft smile on his face. He looks at Parker then opens his door and walks to the back of the SUV and grabs a blanket. He walks to what seems to be a clearing in a small patch of woods. He lays the blanket out on the ground he sits on the blanket hits the spot next to him indicating for Parker to sit next to him. Once they are both seated, Booth lays back, Parker follows. When he looks up he sees a sky full of stars.

"You would think that being a sniper would be cool, at least I did. All through training I was the best, even better than some of my instructors, and that booth pissed them off and impressed them. I was a natural; the rifle felt so, so right in my hands. Pissed off some of the guys training with me, they had to work twice as hard as I did, but I was still twice as good."

Parker kind of chuckles at this, he was the same way, he was a great shot too. "But then you come to learn that shooting at cardboard and targets is nothing like shooting at the real thing." Booth pauses and looks at the stars for a few long moments. "General Mohammad Halim, 5'3, 180 pounds, walked with a slight limp. General Halim was in charge during 3 major battles. He was my first target. I'll never forget how long and hard I had to squeeze the trigger, or the sound of the bullet leaving my gun, or the way the gun recoiled into my shoulder. I'll never forget how he fell. The blood. The scream of his wives, they way they ran to him. I think one of them was pregnant, she looked like it anyway." There was a long pause. "I'll never forget how sweaty my palms were, even after I was back at camp. I had killed someone, and this person posed no immediate threat to me or anyone around me that I knew about. I took a life. I couldn't get over it. This person was gone because of me." Booth sighed deeply. "I didn't think God would forgive me, I couldn't even bring myself to ask him to. It wasn't until I got out and I was back home before I talked to him again. I had killed 49 men before I even talked to God about the first."

"Dad… did he… did God forgive you?"

"It was more of a matter that I had to forgive myself. Father Joe told me while I was in confession that I did what I had to do for my country, and that God understood that. But I was still holding on to the fact that I thought he abandon me out there."


	6. POW and some thoughts

"There was a… I don't know what to call it… a dark period maybe, of my life where I thought that, I there even was a God, He was a mean kid with a magnifying glass. How could he let there be that much pain in the world?" Booth has a pained look on his face. "How could He let so many people suffer? Not just in POW camps but all over the world. I mean look at all the places Bones has been IDing victims of genocide. The way people can be so cruel to others; they can torture people. Throw them in some dark hole in the ground, barley feed them, only take them out to yell at them in a foreign language and beat that hell out of them." Parker can tell, by the sound of his dad's voice, that this must have been what happened to him.

"Some of the things that they do to people, the things that they have come up with to torture people," Booth visibly shivers. "Makes me want to vomit. You see your friends getting bamboo shoots shoved under their fingernails," Parker balls his hands into a fist, to hide the tips of his fingers. "Or tied and hung from a tree by their thumbs, sometimes pulling on their feet to add more weight. Of how it felt each time the pipe hit the bottom of your foot, and how it hurts so much more when they break a bone. Then they leave you alone for a few days and then start all over again. You hope you die, you hope that you just fall asleep and never wake up. You even hope that they will just shoot you, get the pain to end. You watch your buddies cower in their sleep, crying out for it to stop, you try to wake them up, try to let them know that you aren't going to hurt them. You have to try and help them anyway you can. Sometimes it's trying to take out bamboo shoots, or trying to get their thumbs back in place after they have been dislocated. Sometimes it is just holding their hand, or their arm, just so they know that you are there and that they are not alone. Or it could be just looking away and pretending that you don't hear them when they cry." Booth pauses and closes his eyes tight to keep the tears back.

"You think back to what you did wrong to get caught, what if it was your fault? What if it was you that was noticed, then made it easier for them to spot the net time someone when to scout? I don't know how they found us but they did, in the middle of the night they came. There were five of us, 3 asleep and 2 awake, I was asleep, they came so fast and quite that the two awake couldn't even respond, or even wake us up. I woke up to the sound of a gun being dry fired, a loud 'CLICK' was all it took for me to be wide awake looking up the barrel of a gun. We were there for 6 months, I didn't even have a guess for how long we had been there, five of us went in and only three came out. I still wonder if it was me. If the other two died because of me, because I made a stupid mistake."

"Have you ever asked the other two? If they feel the same I mean?"

"No. I only saw them once after we got out, at the other twos funeral. What if I asked them and they did say that they thought it WAS my fault? That would kill me."

"I'm sure they don't dad, how could they? They went through the same thing. Who knows who they saw a followed."

"Yeah well, they never called, so it just makes me think that they put it on me."

"You never called them though, they could think that YOU blame THEM."

Booth just looks at his son. That thought had never crossed his mind. What if they did think that hr thought it was one of their faults? Wow Parker was way too smart, he needs to stay away from Bones, he has been spending too much time with her. Booth smiles slightly at that though.

Parker, noticing how his father is being really quite, says softly, "Sorry dad, I just thought, you know, you think they don't call because they blame you, but what if they feel the same. That you don't call because you blame them. Sorry."

"No, Parker, you're right. I should call or something. I was just thinking that you spend way too much time with Bones, you're smart, I never though of it like that before."

Parker lets out the breath that he was holding; he thought that he had made his dad mad.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a long time before Booth speaks again.

"Have you ever done something that for a while you thought was the right thing, then you start to question it, then it seems to uh… haunt you?"


	7. Nightmares and Numbers

"_Have you ever done something that for a while you though was the right thing, then you start to question it, then it seems to uh… haunt you?"_

Parker thinks for a second, "Kind of… I guess."

"I have, and it sucks. It can give you nightmares. I still have them every so often. I'll wake up covered in cold sweat, and Tempe says it takes her about 20 minutes to get me to actually wake up, that my eyes are open but I am still in the dream, still afraid." Booth sighs.

"The things that I have done still give me nightmares. I wake up and still feel like I am there. I dream about everything. Everything that I have seen, heard, done or been through. It feels like I am still living it, and that it will never be over. Sometimes I die in the POW camp, or that the two who made it out died, and I was all alone, or some of my targets didn't actually die, and they come after me or my family, or their families come after you guys. The dreams are sometimes worse than what happened, sometimes they are what happened, but they still make me sick. What I am saying is that once it is 'over' it's not really over," He uses finger quotes when he says the first over. "It's not done. It is still with me, and it always will be."

"How often do you get these nightmares?"

"Well it depends, when I first got back, every night, then they slowly started to go away. But if something happens that makes me think about it, or brings it to my attention, they tend to happen. If there is someone in the bed with me, someone sleeping next to me, it helps, they don't happen as much, but when they do they aren't as bad.

"Something that always makes me think about all of this is 49. The number. Whenever I see it or hear it I just go someplace else." Booth pauses and takes a deep breath.

"What's 49?" Parker asks, a very confused look on his face.

Booth thinks for a second. "It takes me back to all the things I have done. I killed 49 people while I as a Ranger. I have killed more people than that, but they could have seen it coming, and they know who did it. 49." Booth sighs.

"I could be doing something like watching TV and there is a commercial selling something for 'Only $49.99!!!!' I stop thinking about what I was watching, or the case that I have been working on. Hell you could ask me the day of the week and I won't know. Anything. If I buy something and the total comes up as $10.49 I won't buy it. I'll say never mind and jut walk away."

Booth and Parker are both quite for a few minutes before Booth says anything.

"Being 49 is going to suck. Every time someone asks for my age I will freeze. I won't even remember who they are or what I was talking to them about. I just don't know how I am going to get through that year."

Parker looks over at his dad, "You will get through it like you got threw it every other time, only now you have so much more to live for. You have a family that couldn't make it without you. Especially me. Man even mom couldn't make it without you."

"You have a point." Booth looks at his watch, "Damn, its 11:30. I need to get you home or your mom will kill me and I won't have to worry about living through 49." He says with a small smile Parker looks at him and laughs.

"Yeah dad let's get out of here."


	8. Home Sweet Home

Parker sits in his fathers SUV and thinks about everything his father has told him since he walked into his office earlier that afternoon. 'Wow I never knew any of that. I knew he was a sniper, and that he was a POW, but I never knew how he felt about killing the people that he did, or that he was tortured, or that he blames himself for the death of two of the guys in his unit. Why didn't he tell me earlier?'

Parker finally gets up the courage to ask, "Dad, uh, why didn't you tell me any of this earlier?"

Booth sighs deeply, 'Do I tell him the real reason I never wanted to talk to him about it?' "There are a few reasons," Booth says after a few minutes. "I didn't want to relive it is the small one."

Parker thinks about that for a few minutes, 'Makes since, that was hell for me and I was just hearing about it, wait, the small reason?'

"What was the 'big' reason?"

Booth sighs again 'Wow I think I have sighed more tonight than I ever have before.'

"Well, I…I uh, didn't want you to uh, hate me or, uh, think any less of me." He says slowly.

Parker looks back out the window "I could never hate you, being an Army Ranger in your past made you who you are today," He gives a small laugh, "the over protective alpha male, the father that drops anything for his kids, or his friends." They sit in silence for the rest of the ride, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

As Parker gets out he stops, "I'll uh, call you tomorrow or something."

"Okay talk to you later then…"

Parker shuts the car door and walks into his mom's house. Drew and Rebecca are sitting on the couch; Rebecca looks up "How did it go with your father?"

"I'm not completely sure, I just know a lot more now that for sure."

"Like what?" Drew asks.

"Just… a lot of stuff," Parker puts his bag down by the door and starts to head toward his room.

"Hold on Parker! We want to know what you guys talked about!" Rebecca says as she gets up off the couch.

Parker snorts, "Funny, you never cared before."

"We need to talk about this, about your decision!" Drew says raising his voice just a little.

Parker stops and turns to face his stepfather "No WE don't. I am now 18, and adult, able to make my own decisions. You have no place to tell me that I am or am not allowed to do something, and not just because I am 18." Parker turns and starts to make his way to him room again.

"Parker, you cannot talk to him like that! He cares about you and you are making the wrong decision!"

"No mom, I'm not. You are thinking that by telling at me that you will get me to change my mind, Dad didn't yell at me, he talked to me like an adult, and right now I have a lot that I need to think about so if you'll please just leave me alone for a while I would greatly appreciate it." Parker yells over his shoulder then shuts his door.

Parker sits on his bed and runs his hands over his face and through his hair. 'What do I do now? I thought I really wanted to be in the Army like my dad but now, after hearing the stories that he has, I don't think I could handle it like he did. And I almost want to go just to piss mom and Drew off. Maybe I should move in with dad, get a break from all this stuff. He didn't pressure me to change me decision, I know he wants me to, but he didn't say that I had to. What do I want to do now?'

Parker is pulled from his thoughts when he hears his mom yelling. "…Seeley what the hell did you tell him?... No he came home and didn't want to talk about it… No this is YOUR fault… "

Parker picks up the phone, "Dad can I come stay with you?'

"WHAT?" Rebecca Screams it but Booth only says it.

"I don't want to be here for a while can I come stay with you?" Parker says ignoring his mother.

"Yeah of course, do you want me to come get you?"

"I don't want to wait that long… If I take a cab will you pay for it?"

"Yeah come on over."

"NO! Parker you are not going anywhere!"

"Mom, I am old enough to say where I want to stay, and this is not dad's fault, what he told me is making me think about not joining!" He yells into the phone then hangs up and goes back to his room and grabs a bag and starts shoving stuff into it. He then walks out of his room and sees Drew standing there.

"You're not going any where." He says

"Well I think you forget that a: my dad knows that I'm coming over, and he knows how long it takes for me to get there and b: that he is an FBI agent with a gun that he is not afraid to use." Parker says as he pushes past Drew.

"Stay where you are!"

"Don't make me tell my dad about you hitting me that one time, and that mom knows about it, you think that will fly? Now get out of my way."

"That one time! It happened once!"

"Do you really think my dad will care about that? So what if it only happened once, it happened!"

Parker walks out the door without looking back. He walks to his friends house down the street so he can call a cab and get out of the madness while he wait for the cab. He knocks on the door and Trey's mom answers.

"Hey Parker, what are you doing here so late?"

" Mrs. Gal, umm, I was wondering if I could call a cab and stay here until it gets here to take me to my dads?"

"Of course, is everything okay?"

"Not really, I got into a big fight with my mom, and she is blaming my dad, and it is her fault, but is too stubborn to realize it."

"Oh Parker, I'm so sorry, here's the phone, you can go wait in Trey's room if you like."

"Thanks," he takes the phone and dials the number. After he calls he walks up to Trey's room and walks in. "Hey man."

"My mom came in and told me what happened, you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little pissed."

"This about you wanting to join the Army?"

"Yeah, I'm gunna go stay with my dad for a while."

Trey and Parker sit and talk for a while, then they here the cab pull up and Parker says thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gal and goes to get into the cab. Then he sees Drew standing next to the back door.


	9. Things That Make You Go 'Ugh'

"Where do you think you are going?" Drew says.

"I'm going to my dads and you are not going to stop me!" Parker says.

Inside Mr. and Mrs. Gal are looking out the window and see what's going on. Mr. Gal goes outside while Trey calls Booth.

When Drew sees Mr. Gal come outside he stops. "This is none of your concern, you can go back inside!" Drew yells.

"I'm not going anywhere until Parker is in that cab, alone, on his way to his fathers." He replies calmly.

"Like I said, this is none of your concern, just a little family disagreement." Drew growls, stressing the word family.

"You are NOT my family!" Parker says. "Right now Mr. Gal is more my family than you and my mother are!" He says mother like it is poisonous.

"Do NOT talk bad about your mother." Drew yells.

"Well she doesn't care about me, so what's the problem? She cares more about herself, and being happy than me, other wise she never would have married you after you hit me! Now she can live her life the way she has always wanted to!"

Just then a black SUV pulls up and Tempe gets out. "Come on Parker, get in the car."

"Oh thank God." Parker mumbles as he goes to get in the car, Drew walks up to Tempe.

"Dr. Booth this has nothing to do with you, you are his step-mother."

"And you are his step-father, you have as much right as I do. So back off!" She says calmly.

"Parker dose not live with you, I have more of a say!"

"You are not his father, nor his mother, you have zero say, just as I do."

"Just because you are pregnant don't think for a second that I won't hit you!" He move his arm to backhand her. She sees it and moves so she can grab his arm and flip him onto his back, and puts her foot on his throat. She then pulls out a gun, cocks it, and points it at him.

"Seeley finally got me that gun permit. Oh and you and Rebecca will leave him alone until HE is ready. GOT IT?!" She pushes down with her foot to help make her point, then uncocks the gun, takes her foot of Drews' throat and strides to the car. She turns to Treys' father, "Thank you for watching out for Parker, Seeley and I appreciate it." She smiles warmly at Mr. Gal, gets into the SUV and pulls away.

"You okay Tempe? Did you hurt yourself?"

She smiles "Just like your father, always worried. No I didn't hurt myself, I am fine, but hungry. You want some ice cream?"

Parker laughs, "Only you could hold a gun to a mans head then 30 seconds later talk about ice cream." He shakes his head, "Umm, thanks, for back there I mean, and yes, I would love some ice cream."

"Okay, call your father and tell him we are stopping, ask him if he wants some." She throws the phone to him.

"Hey dad Tempe picked me up and we're stopping for ice cream, you want some?... Okay will be home soon." Parker hangs up the phone as they are pulling up to the Speedy Whip drive thru.

"He want any?"

"Yep, but not what you are having! He wants mint chocolate chip and I will have, ummm, chocolate chip cookie dough."

"Welcome to Speedy Whip can I take your order?" A muffled voice comes from a speaker outside.

"Um yes we will have 1 pint of mint chocolate chip, 1 pint of chocolate chip cookie dough, 1 pint of blue moo cookie dough 1 pint of butter pecan and 1 pint of black raspberry chip." (Black Raspberry Chip is a Greaters best. If you ever go to Cincinnati go to Greaters Ice Cream and get it!)

"That will be $15.36 please pull around."

"Please tell me that you are not going to mix those!" Parker makes a face.

"Well…. I thought about it."

"Things that make you go ugh." Parker shudders.

Tempe laughs, "get my purse and grab a 20 out of my wallet will ya?"

Parker grabs the money and hands it to her "Pregnant women are scary sometimes, especially when they have a gun and then cravings."

They got their ice cream and head home talking more about Tempe's weird cravings. They are laughing when they walk in the door. Tempe hands out the ice cream then gets spoons for everyone. Booth reads the labels on her ice cream and makes the same face Parker did.

"Are you planning on mixing those?"

"Will the two of you stop it! I will eat what I want to!"

"I said it once and I will see it again, pregnant women can be scary especially when they have a gun and then a craving!" Parker laughs.

"What do you mean 'when they have a gun?'" Booth asks.

"Umm well ya see…" Tempe

"Oh wow, he didn't actually get you a gun permit." Parker says slowly.

"Temperance," Booth says warningly.

"Seeley he threatened to hit me!"

"WHAT?"

Well he said 'just because you are pregnant doesn't mean I won't hit you!' So I threw him on his back put my foot to his throat, and then, I uh, pulled out the gun."

Booth opens his mouth, then closes it then opens in again. "I don't even know how to respond to that." Booth starts laughing "I can see you with your foot on Drew's throat with a gun in your hand."

They are all laughing and enjoying their ice cream, with only a few faces made from Booth and Parker.

"Um, will I be able to stay here for a while?" Parker asks.

"You can stay as long as you like Parker." Tempe says. Booth nods in agreement.

"Thanks. Oh and I decided a while before I got home that I am not going to be joining the Army, but I don't want mom to know." Parker says slowly, then takes a deep breath. "There is something that I should have to you guys a long time ago…."\


	10. And That Concludes This Evening

"Well a few years ago, when I was 13 actually, mom and I got into a fight one night about how she wouldn't let me spend more time with you guys more. Drew brought himself into it saying how 'we know what's best for you' I told him he shouldn't have any say in it, especially when I want to spend more time with my father and about how mom and Drew don't really care about me anyway. All the things that are important to me they don't show up for and you and Tempe do. All the football and baseball games and the science crap that I like to do I mean how many of those things have you been to? We said more stuff, I don't really remember much of it, I was really mad. And the next thing I solidly remember was," Parker pauses and takes a deep breath, "was Drew, uh, backhanding me across the face." Parker holds his breath and closes his eyes, expecting his dad to blow up and run out and kill Drew.

"Does Rebecca know?" Booth says calmly, trying to keep his voice level.

Parker just nods his head, to afraid to speak.

"And this happened when you were 13?"

Parker just nods again.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, well first off, um, mom told me not to. And I, I um, thought that you might have been mad at me, for um, yelling at Drew. You always told me to respect him."

"Parker I would have never been mad at you for that, you are allowed to get angry at someone. I am PISSED at Rebecca, this happened before she got married to him, and she never told me. She knew that if I did know about it I could have tried to get full custody." Booth puts his head in his hands.

"Would you have tried?" Parker asks.

"Only if you didn't want to live there anymore. Did Drew only hit you once?"

"Yeah, but he came close to hitting me a lot," Parker says softly.

"Is that why you started hating Drew?" Tempe asks.

Parker nods, "Yeah that's one of the things that I really like about you. You don't think that you should have control over me like you are my mother. You have never tried to replace her, and what you DO tell me to do it like 'hey Parker will you please take out the garbage?'" Booth and Tempe both laugh, "You don't think that you have to be included in the decisions that I make, that makes me want your input. Drew tries to force my decisions."

"Well I'm glad that you feel that way. I would never try to replace Rebecca, I wouldn't want that for little Booth to be here," she says as she puts her hand on her stomach.

"Oh wow, it's 3 in the morning. Bed. Now. Both of you, Goodman will have my head tomorrow for keeping you up so late, and so will the doctor. And Parker you can go to school, uh lets say two hours late. I'll right you a note, or do you want me to come pick you up and take you?" Booth asks.

"Why don't you pick me up and take me, The F.B.I. badge helps when I sign in, even with a note from you, our handwriting is to similar, they think I forge it." Parker says, yawning as he makes his way toward his room. "Night guys."

"Now I am only going to bed if you are, you have had a tough day Agent Booth. Reliving your war stories, finding out all that crap about Rebecca and Drew." Tempe whispers in Booths ear.

Booth smiles, yeah I am coming to bed. I am exhausted, I couldn't think about this more if I wanted to." Taking Tempes' hand and walking to the bedroom they both lay down and are asleep almost immediately.


End file.
